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Summary

Cultures of the West: A History, Second Edition, focuses on the ways in which the major ideas and passions of Western culture developed, internally, and how they interacted with the broader world--for good and for ill. The development of such key ideas as religion, science, and philosophy form the central narrative of this book.

Cultures of the West stands apart from other textbooks in a variety of ways, the first being thematic unity. What did people think and believe, throughout our history, about human nature, the right way to live, God, the best forms of government, or the meaning of human life? Rather than maintaining a single interpretive stance, author Clifford R. Backman relies upon a consistent set of questions: What did people think and feel throughout the centuries about politics, science, religion, and sex? How did they come to their positions regarding the right way to live? Backman's many years of experience in the classroom have informed his approach--students respond to engaging questions more than they are inspired by facts.

Author Biography

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Clifford R. Backman has been a member of the History Department at Boston University since 1989. He is currently at work on a book that traces the development of toleration and interpersonal forgiveness in medieval Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Table of Contents

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List of Maps PrefaceAbout the Author Note on DatesPrologue: Before History

1. Water and Soil, Stone and Metal: The First Civilizations 10,000-2100 BCEThe Tigris, the Euphrates, and the Land Between the RiversEarly Mesopotamia: Kings and Priests The Idea of EmpireMesopotamian Life: Farms and Cities, Letters and NumbersReligion and Myth: The Great Above and Great Below Ancient Egypt, Gift of the NileLife and Rule in Old Kingdom EgyptThe Kingdom of the Dead

2. Law Givers, Emperors, and Gods: The Ancient Near East2100-486 BCEOld BabylonMiddle Kingdom EgyptThe New Kingdom EmpireThe Indo-European ArrivalThe Age of Iron BeginsPersia and the Religion of Fire

3. The People of the Covenant1200-350 BCEThe Bible and HistoryThe Land of CanaanDreams of a Golden AgeWomen and the LawProphets and ProphecyThe Struggle for Jewish IdentitySecond Temple Judaism

4. Greeks and Persians2000-479 BCEThe First GreeksThe Search for Mythic Ancestors in Archaic Age GreeceColonists, Hoplites, and the Path toward CitizenshipA Cult of MasculinityCivilized Pursuits: Lyric PoetrySparta: The Militarization of the CitizenryMiletus: The Birthplace of PhilosophyAthens: Home to DemocracyThe Persian Wars

6. Empire of the Sea: Rome753 BCE-212 CEAncient Italy and the Rise of RomeFrom Monarchy to RepublicThe Republic of VirtueSize MattersCan the Republic Be Saved?Rome's Golden Age: The Augustan EraThe Sea, the SeaRoman Lives and ValuesHeight of the Pax Romana: The "Five Good Emperors"

7. The Rise of Christianity in a Roman World40 BCE-300 CEThe Vitality of Roman ReligionThe Jesus MysteryA Crisis in TraditionMinistry and MovementWhat Happened to His Disciples?Christianities EverywhereRomans in PursuitPhilosophical Foundations: Stoicism and Neoplatonism

8. The Early Middle Ages300-750 The Imperial CrisisImperial Decline: Rome's OverreachMartyrdom and EmpireA Christian Emperor and a Christian ChurchThe Rise of "New Rome": The Byzantium EmpireBarbarian Kings and Warlords Divided Estates and KingdomsThe Body as Money and Women as PropertyChristian PaganismChristian Monasticism

9. The Expansive Realm of Islam30-900"Age of Ignorance": The Arabian BackgroundThe Qur'an and HistoryFrom Preacher to ConquerorConversion or Compulsion?The Islamic EmpireSunnis and Shi'aIslam and the Classical TraditionsWomen and Islam

10. Reform and Renewal in the Greater West750-1258Two Palace CoupsThe Carolingian AscentCharlemagneImperial CoronationCarolingian Collapse The Splintering of the CaliphateThe Reinvention of Western EuropeMediterranean CitiesThe Reinvention of the ChurchThe Reinvention of the Islamic WorldThe Call for CrusadesThe CrusadesTurkish Power and Byzantine DeclineJudaism Reformed, Renewed, and Reviled

11. Worlds Brought Down1258-1453Late Medieval EuropeScholasticismMysticismThe Guild SystemThe Mendicant OrdersEarly Representative GovernmentThe Weakening of the PapacyNoble Privilege and Popular RebellionThe Hundred Years' WarThe PlagueThe Mongol TakeoverIn the Wake of the MongolsPersia under the Il-KhansA New Center for IslamThe Ottoman Turks12. Renaissances and Reformations1350-1563Rebirth or Culmination?The Political and Economic MatrixThe Renaissance AchievementChristian HumanismErasmus: Humanist Scholar and Social CriticMartin Luther: The Gift of SalvationLuther's Rebellion against the ChurchThe Reformation Goes InternationalCalvin: Protestantism as TheologyThe Godly SocietyThe Rebirth of SatireCatholic Reform and the Council of Trent The Society of JesusWhat about the Orthodox East?

13. Worlds Old and New1450-1700European Voyages of DiscoveryNew Continents and ProfitsConquest and EpidemicsThe Copernican DramaGalileo and the Truth of NumbersInquisition and InquiryThe Revolution BroadensThe Ethical Costs of ScienceThe Islamic Retreat from ScienceThinking about TruthNewton's Mathematical Principles

14. The War of All against All1540-1648From the Peace of Augsburg to the Edict of Nantes: French Wars of ReligionStrife and Settlement in EnglandDutch Ascendancy and Spanish EclipseThe Thirty Years' WarEnemies Within: The Hunt for Witches The Jews of the East and WestThe Waning of the SultanateNew Centers of Intellectual and Cultural LifeWars of Religion: The Eastern FrontEconomic Change in an Atlantic World

15. From Westphalia to Paris: Regimes Old and New 1648-1750 The Peace of Westphalia: 1648The Argument for TyrannyThe Social ContractAbsolute PoliticsPolice StatesSelf-Indulgence with a Purpose: The Example of Versailles Mercantilism and AbsolutismMercantilism and PovertyDomesticating Dynamism: Regulating Culture The Control of Private LifeEngland's Separate Path: The Rise of Constitutional MonarchyOttoman AbsolutismPersian AbsolutismThe International Economy in a Mercantilist AgeThe Slave Trade and Domestic SubjugationThe Return of Uncertainty

16. The Enlightened1690-1789The Enlightenment EnterpriseLearning from Our Worst MistakesA New World of IdeasVoltaire and the Limits of OptimismThe Radical Thought of RousseauThe Jewish EnlightenmentThe Jews and Europe's AmbivalenceThe UnenlightenedAssessing the Enlightenment

17. The French Revolution and Napoleon1789-1815A Revolution in Western History?Revolutionary RoadThe Enlightened RevolutionThe Revolution Turns RadicalHow to Judge a RevolutionNapoleon The Rush to EmpireThe Continental SystemDownfallRevolution in the Colonies

18. Industrialization and Its Discontents1750-1850Britain's Head StartInnovation and InfrastructureTrying to Catch Up to BritainTrying to Catch Up to Europe: The Ottoman EmpireLife in the Industrial Age Riots and RepressionWomen and Children LastThe Romantic Generation

19. The Birth of Modern Politics1815-1848Conservatism in PowerRoyalism and Its OpponentsThe Moral Component of ConservatismThe Challenge of LiberalismRebellion and ReformResponses to Liberal Capitalism The Revolutions of 1848Karl Marx and RevolutionThe Collapse of the Concert of EuropeWomen in a Conservative Age

21. The Modern Woman1860-1914The Appetite for ReformWhose Rights Come First?Suffragists and SuffragettesLove and SexThe Female IdentityEducation and WorkThe "Woman Question" for Muslims

22. The Challenge of Secularism 1800-1914 Who Killed God?The Theory of CreationDarwin and Evolution by Natural SelectionA Secular UniverseNietzsche and the Will to Power Art for Art's SakeThe Illness of Western SocietyFreud and PsychoanalysisModernism: The First WaveThe Catholic CounterattackModernism, Secularism, and the JewsThe Islamic Exception

24. The World at War (Part I)1914-1918The Run-Up to WarThe Balance of PowerA New Map of HellThe War in the TrenchesThe Home FrontOfficers and GentlemenRussia's RevolutionBolshevism and the Laws of HistoryHow Not to End a WarYoung Turks25. Radical Realignments1919-1939History for BeginnersParceling Out NationsNew Rights and New EconomiesThe Great DepressionThe Search for Someone to BlameModernism: The Second WaveThe Rise of Fascism: Italy and SpainNazism in GermanyOppression and Terror in RussiaA New Deal?Appeasement and Pacifism

26. The World at War (Part II)1937-1945The War in EuropeWar in the PacificAtomic FissuresWomen in, and against, FascismAtrocities and HolocaustMaking AmendsThe United Nations and Human RightsWorld War II and the Middle EastArab Nationalism and Growing Zionism

27. Theater of the Absurd: The Postwar World1945-1968Setting to WorkAlienation and the AbsurdThe Cold War Decolonization in a Cold War WordRise of the Welfare StateSocial Conservatism and Economic LiberalismThe Postwar BoomTurning Point: 1967-1968The Female FactorWomen, Islam, and the State

28. Something to Believe In1960-1988A Generation of RebellionBig Science and Expanding SecularismAnother Catholic ReformationPostwar ProtestantismJewish Revival and ConflictInternational Judaism and the State of IsraelIslamic RevolutionsBa'athism and Brotherhood

29. Global Warmings Since 19891989: One Year, Three CrisesThe United States of EuropeEconomic GlobalizationWar and Peace, from the Balkans to PakistanIslam and Its DiscontentsWhy Terrorism?"Why Do They Hate Us?"Israel, Palestine, and the Arab Spring Women and the Global WorldDebt, Taxes, and LibertyFree Market? What Free Market?What Is the Greater West Now?